10 countries where people smoke the most

Tobacco company Reynolds American Inc.
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was hit with $23.6 billion in damages Friday after a Florida jury decided that the company acted negligently in marketing its tobacco products. The company had been sued by a widow who claimed the company failed to inform her husband about the cancer-causing nature of tobacco. The news came less than a week after Reynolds said it would buy out rival Lorillard Inc.
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in a deal worth $27.4 billion.

Nearly 20% of the world’s adult population smokes cigarettes, according to TobaccoAtlas.org. Smokers consumed nearly 5.9 trillion cigarettes in 2009 (the year for which the most recent data is available) — representing a 13% increase in cigarette consumption in the past decade. Here’s a look at the 10 countries where the most cigarettes are consumed per capita.

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10. Montenegro

Cigarette consumption per capita: 2,157

Cigarette consumption historically has been highest in high-income countries, but because of targeted marketing, increased social acceptability, continued economic development and population increases, consumption is expected to increase in low- and middle-income countries, according to TobaccoAtlas, which is sponsored by the World Lung Foundation and the American Cancer Society.

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9. Belarus

Cigarette consumption per capita: 2,266

Cigarette consumption in Western Europe dropped by 26% between 1990 and 2009 but increased in the Middle East and Africa by 57% during the same period, This change has occurred as people in high-income countries increasingly understand the dangers of smoking and governments continue to implement tobacco control policy and legislation. Left, a Belarusian man smokes a cigarette while cooling down near a fountain in Minsk during a heat wave.

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8. Bosnia-Herzegovina

Cigarette consumption per capita: 2,278

Globally, the increase in cigarette consumption in low- and middle-income countries is significant enough to offset the decrease in high-income countries, according to TobaccoAtlas.org. Cigarette consumption is responsible for a significant disease burden. While global smoking prevalence is flat or decreasing, the total number of smokers world-wide continues to increase simply due to population growth.

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7. Slovenia

Cigarette consumption per capita: 2,369

While almost 6 trillion cigarettes are consumed annually, the pattern of nicotine consumption may shift in the future as people seek alternative nicotine delivery systems. The World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) has outlined how best to reduce tobacco use.

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6. Ukraine

Cigarette consumption per capita: 2,401

As consumption rates continue to increase in low- and middle-income countries, these countries will experience a disproportionate amount of tobacco-related illness and death — particularly China, as Chinese men smoke a third of the world’s cigarettes. If the smoking prevalence among Chinese women increases, global consumption of cigarettes will skyrocket, and the country’s economy and health-care systems will be overwhelmed. Left, a protester smokes at the barricade in front of armor-clad security forces blocking access to the Verkhovna Rada parliament in Kiev Jan. 21.

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5. Moldova

Cigarette consumption per capita: 2,479

Around the world, 48% of the world’s cigarette consumption was in the Western Pacific in 2009, 24% in Europe and 11% in the Americas.

Left, a “Lada” car, a brand well known during the communist era, is driven in Tiraspol, the main city of Transnistria, a separatist republic of Moldova. Transnistria, a small strip of land of 500,000 inhabitants in eastern Moldova, is not recognized by the international community.

OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP/Getty Images

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4. Russia

Cigarette consumption per capita: 2,786

Left, a former Soviet soldier smokes his cigarette near the monument commemorating the Soviet victims of the war in Afghanistan, in St. Petersburg Feb. 15.

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3. Greece

Cigarette consumption per capita: 2,795

Left, Greece's football coach Fernando Santos smokes a cigarette during a training session in 2012.

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2. Bulgaria

Cigarette consumption per capita: 2,822

Left, people smoke cigarettes in front of the National Theatre in the center of Sofia. Bulgaria enforced a full smoking ban in all enclosed public spaces including bars and restaurants.

ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images

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1. Serbia

Cigarette consumption per capita: 2861

In 2010, Serbia introduced tough antitobacco measures, the strictest ever in the Balkans country, where some 33.6% of adults smoke. Left, a passenger smokes a cigarette while waiting for a train in Belgrade last year.

ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images

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1. Serbia

Cigarette consumption per capita: 2861

In 2010, Serbia introduced tough antitobacco measures, the strictest ever in the Balkans country, where some 33.6% of adults smoke. Left, a passenger smokes a cigarette while waiting for a train in Belgrade last year.

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